The Colorado National Guard will activate a new military mountain unit — the first to train in Colorado since the 10th Mountain Division left Camp Hale in 1943 — at a ceremony this weekend.
Troops will learn expert mountaineering and light infantry skills at Camp Hale above Leadville, and learn to fly unmanned aerial vehicles along the Front Range — simulating the terrain along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.
The unit, expected to grow from 91 troops currently to 134 by the end of 2008, could ultimately be called upon to hunt for Osama bin Laden.
B Co., Special Troops Battalion of the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) will receive eight “Shadow” unmanned aerial vehicles by late 2008. The drone has about a 15-foot wingspan and can fly at an altitude of up to 15,000 feet for about six hours.
The military learned after its deployment to Afghanistan that it needed to beef up its high-altitude training.
“Maneuvering across mountains at high altitude was something that the armed forces in general had to adjust to with the Afghanistan campaign,” German said. “They learned very quickly that moving at 10,000 feet in rocks and boulders on the side of a mountain is a lot different than walking through sea level in NATO countries, like Germany and places like that.”
The Colorado unit is part of the Vermont National Guard.
A specific site for UAV training has not been designated, though possibilities include Buckley Air Force Base, Fort Carson or near Watkins, where the unit will have offices in a Colorado National Guard Armory, said Capt. Quinton German, commander of the new unit.
“We don’t have a proposed training site,” German said. “There are certain criteria that have to be met to fly those. We’re obviously constrained on the Front Range, just because of air space and things like that. We’re still trying to work out where the best place to put those are.”
National Guard units in other states fly UAVs as part of counter-drug missions and to assist federal agencies.
“We have not specifically started thinking about using UAVs along those lines, but that is what other states have used their National Guard assets for,” German said.
The UAVs will not be used to spy on Coloradans, said Lt. Darin Overstreet, spokesman for the Guard.
“Military intelligence does not collect information on the American citizens. We only collect information on the enemy outside the United States.”
Camp Hale no longer is owned by the military. It consists of concrete bases where buildings once stood and rifle ranges and storage areas. So the unit’s troops will make use of the latest mountain gear and tents.
John Tripp, a 10th Mountain Division veteran who lives in Carbondale, said the opportunity to train there will be like “a big Boy Scout deal.”
“It’ll be a great thing and I think a lot of young people would participate if they could get some skiing, some rock climbing,” said John Tripp.
Erin Emery: 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com
